


No Place Like Home

by edwardbraelinvonhaus



Category: VH - A Harry Potter Roleplay Site
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-02
Updated: 2015-08-02
Packaged: 2018-04-12 12:57:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4480031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edwardbraelinvonhaus/pseuds/edwardbraelinvonhaus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Person A is presumed dead. Later, (days, weeks, years) Person B reunites with Person A. Reactions?</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Place Like Home

**Prompt: Person A is presumed dead. Later, (days, weeks, years) Person B reunites with Person A. Reactions?**

 

She’s been missing for years, presumed dead, and there was a casket in the ground that was empty, save for a couple of important and sentimental trinkets that meant something to various people. There were even memories in that pine box; _actual_ memories that swirled wispy silver strands in a stoppered vial. Ten years was a long time, and maybe now those memories had died, or been forgotten about.

 

It was all so overwhelming, to be sitting there in the Auror department, where the bustle that Aurora Braelin-VonHaus was once used to, continued on. Her discomfort was noticeable, but she did her best to put on a brave front. Her emotional strength was just about tapped out. “I want… I want to… what day is it?” she asked. It was still a struggle to make sense of her thoughts, and everything around her was so distracting and captivating at the same time.

 

“Sunday,” came a response. “We sent a couple of Aurors to call on your husband, but there appears to be no one home.”

 

“Sunday…” she tested the word on her lips, and something flickered in her brain, telling her that this day meant something. _Sunday._ “I think I know where he is… does your records… do they say… I mean… did he ever…” she took a deep breath, “...marry?”

 

The Auror looked at her long and hard, wondering if she ought to be revealing such information, but the look in Aurora’s eyes, both fearful and determined. The Auror sighed, “No. According to the records, he never remarried.” And Aurora didn’t know whether she wanted to cry, or be relieved. “Where do you think he is now? I’ll send the others there to pick him up.”

 

She thought for a minute, then shook her head. “Do you mind… I mean… can I go with?” It was a timid request, one she expected to be denied, so used to having her requests denied that she wasn’t used to her regained freedom.

 

“Of course,” came the sympathetic answer. “But after, we need to ensure you go to St. Mungo’s to be looked at.”

 

Bargain struck.

 

\-------------------------

 

Christmas Day. Sunday. It was snowing, thick and beautiful and fresh. It was always a joyous occasion at the Davis residence.

 

Ten years ago, it wasn’t a day anyone could count on to be joyous, but everyone put on a brave face for the sake of the children. Now, those children were grown, and their lives had been changed when they had to face terrible truths. Now, there was laughter at the dinner table again, and Alex passed a filled glass of wine to her mother, poured one for her father and passed it on to him. Spike graciously declined, while the VonHaus children who were of age were eager to give it a try.

 

The turkey was carved. Potatoes and corn and stuffing circled around the table and everyone filled their plates. The table was discretely enlarged, and Kathryn allowed it.

 

Everyone had started eating when they heard a cursory knock at the door, and then it opened, whoever was on the other side had taken it upon themselves to be let in. Everyone looked at each other, counting, praying they hadn’t forgotten anyone… and it looked like they hadn’t.

 

When Aurora entered the living room and could look across it to the dining table, a fork dropped with an obnoxious clatter to the plate directly under it. It was a deafening sound. She wanted to shrink under all the eyes that were suddenly upon her, but she had eyes for one person, and his piercing blue ones stared back at her, unblinking. Was she a dream? A figment? Was she _real_? The two Aurors stood a short distance behind her, but they were forgotten about, lost in everything else that was behind her.

 

Spike was on his feet, chair falling backwards, and he nearly tripped over it trying to get around the table. He reached out a trembling hand first, fingers grazing her cheek. _Real_. He was breathing like he’d just run a marathon, and she understood and felt the same. She lifted a hand, curled her fingers around his wrist, felt his warmth, and the safety he offered. “Hi,” she whispered, and tears fell.

 

“Hi,” he offered back, swiping a tear away with the pad of this thumb. And then his mouth was crashing against hers, and she allowed herself to be pulled into him, stumbling awkwardly against him. Her equilibrium not yet restored. Her other hand clutched at his buttondown, held fast to him to keep herself steady, and Merlin she never wanted to let go, but there were people and she felt like she was about to be swarmed. She drank him in for another moment, allowed herself _that_.

 

It wasn’t long before she heard someone murmur something about a _Christmas miracle_ , and she thought it might’ve been Aunt Kathryn. It was enough to pull her back just slightly, and she brushed her nose affectionately against Spike’s. “Merry Christmas,” she whispered, and his arms wrapped tightly about her, and she held in her pain because she needed this just as much as he did. “I love you,” she added, breath hot on the shell of his ear, and he said it back on a sob of his own.

 

The people around them came into focus, meal abandoned… and honestly, she felt guilty about that, but her children were there, arms reaching and touching and verifying. Her children, all grown up. She hugged them as fiercely as they hugged her. She could see the questions dancing in their eyes. _Where have you been? What happened to you? Are you real?_ She wanted nothing more than to answer them, but the hugs kept coming, and she stroked away one of AJ’s tears, hugged her extra tight.

 

“It’s okay,” she whispered reassuringly to her daughter… to everyone really. “It’s me. I’m here.” _For real_. Still, there were difficult roads ahead.

 

Hugs went to everyone. _Everyone_. And that was a lot of people, but Alex? Alex was selfless, and let everyone go first, and when Aurora saw her, she almost melted all over again. Alex almost looked like she didn’t want to move, for fear that if she did, this would all change on her… and she’d realize that she was still sitting at the table, having lost herself in nothing more than wishful thinking. “Quack…”

 

She reached out, hand waiting for Alex’s, and eventually it came. It was _trusting_. Aura squeezed Alex’s hand before releasing and they both enveloped each other in a hug. “You’re here,” Alex whimpered.

 

“I’m here,” she affirmed.

  
_Merlin, it’s good to be home._


End file.
